Some progress on the giant fire of California

Tens of thousands of hectares have gone up in smoke since mid-July in California, the flames taking advantage of the drought and high temperatures to spread in hard-to-reach areas, but firefighters have made some progress over the past few hours. the record blaze.

Weather conditions are expected to remain favorable to fires at least until Saturday night, according to the NWS (Sacramento) Weather Antenna, with winds up to 60 km / h on the heights and a mercury that can climb up to 35 degrees Celsius in the highlands and 39 degrees in the plains.

“Smoke and fog will continue to affect northern California,” she said on Twitter. “Higher Temperatures and Increasing Concerns About Winter-Friendly Fire Conditions.”

For the 14,000 firefighters currently mobilized on the fire front throughout California, the weather can radically change the situation like the last 24 hours on the “Mendocino Complex” which beat Monday night the record of the most destructive of the State in area.

“Weather has been a very important factor today and thanks to the high winds that blanketed the fire zone, this resulted in lower temperatures than expected,” said Calfire, California Fire Department, in a statement Tuesday night.

“This drop in temperature has allowed teams to continue their valuable work to contain the perimeter of the fire, slow the spread of fire,” said the organization, predicting that the 4000 firefighters fighting the fire continue to “benefit” in the night of Tuesday to Wednesday of these conditions.

According to the report Wednesday, the “Mendocino Complex” has destroyed more than 121,000 hectares since July 27 and was limited to 47%, a good increase from the 34% reported. Calfire anticipates that it will be completely surrounded by September 1st.

28,000 firefighters

It is actually composed of two adjoining homes: the “Fire Ranch”, the largest with nearly 102 000 hectares burned, which was controlled at 46% Wednesday morning, and the “River fire”, circumscribed at 81%.

Further north, near the town of Redding, the “Carr” fire remained under control at 47% in the early morning, with more than 70,200 hectares destroyed. More than 4,700 firefighters are fighting against this disaster that has caused the deaths of seven people since July 23 and has reduced to ashes 1,600 buildings, including a thousand homes.

Another blaze of magnitude: the “Ferguson Fire”, which forced the partial closure of the very touristy park of Yosemite. Wednesday morning, it was circumscribed at 43% and had destroyed nearly 38,500 hectares since July 13th.

The National Fire Center (NIFC), which brings together nine US fire management agencies, said Monday alone more than 127 fires broke out in eleven US states, representing nearly 650,000 hectares destroyed.

He appealed to the military to add soldiers to the reinforcements already sent by many American states and from abroad, such as Australia and New Zealand. Monday, more than 28,000 people were fighting against the flames in the country.

“I can not express enough gratitude to all the local, state, other state, federal, private and foreign resources that responded to the #CAWildfires! Your commitment and dedication are exceptional, “tweeted Wednesday Mark Ghilarducci, director of the Emergency Services Office of the Governor of California (Cal OES).

Since mid-July, a dozen people – including at least four firefighters – have been killed by these fires in the most populous state of the United States.

Tens of thousands of people were evacuated in almost a month, a number of whom were allowed to return home after the flames.

US President Donald Trump said Sunday the state of California natural disaster, ordering federal assistance to local authorities.